Realme Watch 2 review: your budget fitness friend

Realme recently added two new smartwatches to its portfolio of products in the form of the Realme Watch 2 and Watch 2 Pro. The former had been initially priced at Rs 2,999 as part of an early bird offer, after which the pricing was revised to Rs 3,499. I have been using the Realme Watch 2 for a few days and it does seem to be mostly an iterative upgrade over its predecessor. This time around, you are getting a brighter display, longer battery life, and support for more sports modes. In this review, let’s try and figure out if the Realme Watch 2 is a good fit for you.

The lowdown

• In terms of the overall design, the Watch 2 has the same display size as the previous Realme Watch at 1.4-inches, though the absence of Realme’s logo on the bottom gives a perception of more screen real estate. Even so, there are substantial bezels around the display which do look a bit unsightly. The plastic build is doesn’t feel cheap but doesn’t exude much premium-ness either. Resolution-wise, the square screen is 320×320 pixels with an LCD panel being used like last time. There is just one button on the side that is used to wake up the watch screen, while several sensors are placed on the back for heart rate monitoring, measuring SpO2 levels, charging and more.

• The wearable is IP68 rated, and can withstand being submerged in water, though it would be preferable not to take it out for a swim. The on-wrist feel of the Watch 2 is quite light and comfortable.

• The UI running on the Watch 2 is the same as last time and quite easy for the user to follow. Swipes in each direction from the home screen bring up different menus. An upward swipe brings up the list of pre-installed apps on the device while a downward one will bring in your notifications. A right swipe brings in quick settings while swiping left continuously shows tiles for calories burnt, weather, heart rate, and more. Watch faces can be changed from the set of defaults ones on the device. A more comprehensive menu is present in the Realme Link app on your smartphone which has to be paired when you boot up the Watch 2. I faced a few issues with the raise to wake functionality since I had to nearly always press the button to wake the device. That said, the general performance of the Watch 2 did feel quite snappy to me with no noticeable lag in any aspect of the user experience.

• As far as health tracking and performance goes, the Realme Watch 2 happens to have 10 pre-loaded sports modes which can further be switched with 70 more dependent on what activity you are doing. While I didn’t dive into the full suite of exercises available, I did test the indoor and outdoor modes to check how accurate the statistics are and I did not come back disappointed. The watch itself does not have GPS capabilities and instead relies on the phone for tracking your path. I did compare steps taken from Watch 2 with my OPPO Watch and found that results were more or less consistent between the two. SpO2 measuring took slightly more time than I would’ve liked but the results were accurate. The Watch 2 also has sleep tracking, the details of which can be viewed in the Realme Link app including periods of deep sleep, REM (rapid eye movement), and light sleep.

• Viewing notifications is limited to about 5-6 messages after which you will have to clear them for new ones to land. You cannot interact with the messages, such as send a quick response or an emoji. You also cannot take calls directly on the Watch 2 as it does not have a speaker or microphone. What you can do is accept calls on the watch and use your phone to answer. Music controls are also present on your watch to play, pause, change track and toggle the volume.

• The Realme Watch 2 is rated for 12 days of usage on a single charge, and it does seem to be fairly accurate. One reason for this could be the iffy raise-to-wake which might be conserving some battery but otherwise I did try out a few sports modes on the device with the screen brightness set to about 80 percent, with the battery holding up well. There is no dedicated power saver option present. Charging the device takes about 90 minutes with the magnetic charger provided inside the box.

Verdict

While not a massive upgrade over the last iteration, the Realme Watch 2 delivers on most key aspects of a basic smartwatch experience while keeping in mind its budget-friendly audience. Iffy raise-to-wake and wide bezels aside, the Realme Watch 2 packs in enough juice to cater to a variety of fitness enthusiasts. Good battery life and support for a whole bunch of fitness tracking modes that the Watch 2 comes with does make it worth a closer look.

Editor’s rating: 4 / 5

Pros:

• Long battery life
• Comfortable & lightweight
• Lots of sports modes
• Bright display

Cons:

• Wide bezels
• Raise to wake is iffy
• Notifications could be improved

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